Thursday, November 11, 2010

Some of you may remember so far back in time. An invitation to get together and do nothing much in particular.

We want to host a monthly get together for people working in historic preservation for a morning bagel & coffee (or donuts or whatever, even green tea) pretty much for no better reason than to get together in Manhattan.

More than a decade ago we did this on a monthly basis (as I was recently reminded by one of our past gracious hosts) and a whole lot of good came of our seeing each other for reasons that had nothing much to do with the day-to-day pressures of business.

Unfortunately just plain getting together always seemed to need a purpose and out of that sense of purpose a number of things occurred (Preservation Trades Network, a revitalization of APTNE, and the IPTW at Floyd Bennet Field in October 2001... right after 9/11) and in the complications that developed we all stopped just getting together to say hello and gossip and chatter and grouse.

We want to get together again with the express purpose of NOT doing anything more than getting together.

Think of it as a pre-bid walk about only there is no project to not get... just friends.

No organization, no charter, no pledges, no conferences, no mission. We intend to do this near 2nd Ave. & 12th Street on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 or wherever manifests at that celestial time as most convenient and hospitable. If you are interested in a visit and congregation then please give a shout.

For those who can't make it to Manhattan we can provide advice on how to have coffee and bagels in your neck of the wilderness!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

I have been friends with John Stahl for a few decades through his previous business incarnations and having attended his recent presentation session at the IPTW 2010 in Frankfort, KY I was quite impressed with the manner in which he interfaced directly with the needs of his audience.I believe that everyone who attended the session left with really good ideas as to how to improve their business situations.

Monday, November 1, 2010

I have been working on a Theory of the Conservation of Bright Ideas for several years now.

I know of people who have too many bright ideas, they have bright ideas like a horse pie has mushrooms. What I have learned, having had my own bright ideas, is that the idea in and of itself is not of value, but the sweat and commitment to realize the idea is the most important element. This said, what I find is that if bright ideas are too freely traded around and have no bone to them that they tend to lose their luster. At issue with a bright idea is that simply having it, or having the most remarkable bright idea is not a guarantee that other people will pick it up and move forward with it. In other words, if a bright idea does not have LEGS then it won't walk.

One bright idea I had was the Traditional Trades Education Resource Directory and I was really into it and had structured a 'team' of partners and advisers and written a nice grant proposal until it was pointed out to me that the acronym is T-TERD.

But as to the Theory of the Conservation of Bright Ideas what I find is that folks who have a bright idea and then commit to doing the hard grunt work of realizing the one idea into the world, that they stick to it tenaciously through thick and thin, that they never take defeat for an answer, that they are not dissuaded or drawn off track by other competing bright ideas, that they tend to have fewer bright ideas than the person who freely willy nilly invents bright ideas in the gross -- the bright idea fountain that spews forth without ever having any hope or intention of realizing the ideas (they are already very bright and shiny), for the most part expecting other folks to catch on to the magnificence of the bright idea and be inspired to do the work.

There is only so much energy and attention that an individual, or a group of people, can put into the world in the realization of bright ideas.

One aspect of the Theory of the Conservation of Bright Ideas is that in a culture and economy where it is not possible to do anything to realize a bright idea that there seems to be a direct correlation to the production of bright ideas. It is as if when one cannot work to realize bright ideas then it is just as well to have an abundance of them. But in an environment where people can actually work to realize bright ideas they tend to get caught up in following them to the exclusion of coming up with all freshly minted new ones.

“Reader, if for any reason you do not like the things I say in the little book, I left just as much space as I used, so you can write your own opinion opposite it and see if you can do better. “ Ed Leedskalnin, builder of Coral Castle, Florida.

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“It is the people who are important. After you understand and take care of the people, then the building becomes important.” John Leeke

We at PCLS enjoy work on an assortment of odd projects, but what we enjoy most is the way our projects form a catalyst for our engagement with unique and interesting people. This series of interviews will help us to share some of what these individuals in the preservation industry bring to our own lives. Thank you, Ken Follett